HUNTSVILLE,
Alabama – Raytheon has received a $156 million contract from the Missile
Defense Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense to procure Standard Missile-3
Block IB guided missiles, according
to a news release.

More than 155
SM-3 missiles, which can be deployed on land or at sea, have been sent to the
U.S. and Japan so far.

"The SM-3
missile is designed to destroy incoming short-, medium-, and intermediate-range
ballistic missile threats by colliding with them in space, a concept sometimes
described as 'hitting a bullet with a bullet,' " the release said.

Work on the
missiles will take place in Huntsville and Tuscon, Ariz., through September
2016.